


Home for the Holidays

by raleighpuppy



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Christmas Fluff, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Post-War, Tumblr: pacrimsecretsanta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-02 22:42:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2828654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raleighpuppy/pseuds/raleighpuppy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the tumblr pacrim secret santa for tumblr user liaduval! Merry Christmas!</p><p>Basically, everyone lives and Mako agrees to host the first Christmas dinner post-war. Nothing goes according to plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home for the Holidays

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, everyone!

Raleigh hasn't celebrated Christmas since Knifehead because Christmas was a big deal in the Becket household, especially when Raleigh and Yancy (and later Jazmine) were little and would wake up at some ungodly hour on Christmas Day, and he didn't want to do any of it without Yancy there too. So he didn't celebrate Christmas from 2017 onwards; he didn't even stop to acknowledge that entire holiday season. While his coworkers on the Wall took advantage of their little time off to get drunk, he sat alone, not even allowing himself that little freedom.

Mako's Christmas celebrations ended largely with Onibaba destroying Tokyo and taking out her parents in the process. She and _Sensei_ did small things for Christmas, but she never considered it much of a celebration, and it was rife with tension because at any moment the alarm signaling a kaiju attack could go off. Later, Tamsin's illness would add to this tension. And with the war picking up every year, it left little to no time for any sort of pause, no matter how brief, for a little celebration.

But the war is over and the kaiju are gone, and their new house is warm and the door is open. Mako stands in the kitchen with her bangs pulled back because she hates the way they stick to her forehead while she works in the kitchen and she feels someone's hand brush against hers; she doesn't have to look to know it's Raleigh. There's a fuzzy warmness in the back of their shared headspace-- she knows it's coming from his side-- and it's washing over her. The way their hands slide together, their minds slide together-- they're so--

"Mako?" someone squeaks, breaking the two from their thoughts. "Where do you want me to put the salad?"

She blinks. "Um, on the counter?"

"But that's where Aleksis and Herc are...doing whatever they're doing-- I don't know what that is," Newt replies.

"We're attempting to bake," Herc states. It's not as threatening, even from him, when he's covered in flour and has chocolate on his face. "It's not working."

"It is working," Aleksis contradicts, "We know how to bake."

Herc shakes his head. "I have no idea how to do this."

Aleksis sighs. "Watch me again..."

Mako turns back to Newt who's still holding a large bowl of salad. Putting Newt and Hermann in charge of something simple like chopping up and putting a bunch of vegetables in a bowl seems to have been a safe bet because there's nothing for them to really break doing that. Judging from the fact neither one of them is hurt and they're the first group done with their assigned task, Mako made a good call.

"You can put it on the kitchen table," Raleigh suggests.

Somewhere along the way from the kitchen to the dining room table, Max wedges himself between Newt's legs, excitedly wagging his tail and begging ("Max, you don't even like lettuce," Herc grumbles from where Aleksis is helping him with the pastries.), and finally causing Newt to tumble over, sending the bowl of salad flying.

"Oh shit, someone catch it!" Newt shouts, reaching.

Raleigh flings himself in the path of the salad bowl and catches it, but falls. He turns so he falls on his back and the salad bowl is safe and entirely intact. Triumphantly, he smiles and holds up the bowl, laughing a little. Then, Max bounds over, jumping up on Raleigh's chest, and then sticking his head in the bowl.

"Oh my god," Newt groans. "Oh my god."

"Mako, I--I'm so sorry," Raleigh gasps. "I didn't mean for Max to get it!"

She sighs and shakes her head, but still takes his hand and pulls him up. "It's okay, Raleigh. I'm going to ask the other groups how their jobs are."

"Okay."

At the grocery store, Chuck feels his phone vibrate in his front pocket and he pulls it out to see a text from Mako. He jams it back in his pocket without answering, and then lumbers down the aisle to where Stacker stands, considering different bottles of wine.

"Hey, Pentecost, any idea how much longer we'll be here? Mako's askin'," he explains. "She wants to know if we're okay."

He sighs. "I don't know enough about wine to pick out the good ones," he admits. "Chuck, do you h--"

"I've never had wine," Chuck interrupts. "Hell, I've hardly ever had beer, so 'm no help."

"Why did Mako send us to get wine?" he asks. "Do any of us prefer wine over beer?"

"We should just grab beer instead," the Aussie suggests, "We'll be doing Mako a favor."

"Alright."

Each of them grabs a couple different twelve-packs and put them in the cart.

"Wait," Chuck says while Stacker hands over some money to the cashier, "What about eggnog?"

"Eggnog is disgusting," the former Marshal replies. "We're not getting it."

"But I--"

"No."

Chuck sighs, having given up on the eggnog with that one stern "no" because if anyone scares him, it's Stacker and he's not going to push the issue with him, and shoots a quick text to Mako: _we're done and on our way back_.

Back at the house, Newt and Hermann are making a new bowl of salad to replace the one Max stuck his head into, while the wrinkly bulldog happily parades around the living room, where Sasha and Tendo are putting up a tree and decorating. Cheung, Jin, and Hu march inside, freezing and covered in snow, but smiling and Max trots to the door to greet them. Jin, the youngest of the three, kneels so he can pet Max, while Cheung and Hu march up to Sasha and Tendo, dragging snow along the carpet.

"That's a good-looking tree," Cheung comments.

"Would you expect anything less from us?" Tendo links arms with Sasha.

"No," Lu answers, "I can clearly see some weird-ass rockabilly Russian thing going on with this tree and it works somehow?"

"We make it work." Sasha nods.

A loud scream and an equally loud crash ring out from the kitchen, followed by shouting and cursing, and the Weis, Sasha, and Tendo run into the kitchen to see what had happened.

The dessert pan lay on the ground and a flour-covered Herc knelt on the ground next to the ruined desserts of some sort-- no one was sure what exactly they were trying to make still-- and Aleksis sadly stands at the table, staring at the pan. Sasha pulls her husband into a hug.

"I'm sorry your....?"

"We were improvising."

"You can't improvise a dessert," Raleigh says from where he stands with a new bowl of salad. "That doesn't work."

"It was working just fine until I dropped it," Herc sighs, still on the ground. "Jesus Christ, we're gonna have to start over. It's the only option."

"You could also maybe make an actual dessert with a recipe," Newt suggests. "Like normal people do. Like everyone except the two of you apparently do."

Mako sighs and walks out of the kitchen because she just has to get out of there for a couple minutes to regroup her thoughts. She loves those people, all of them; she really does. But it's a bit much to believe that so many capable adults together cannot cook. Hermann burnt the ham beyond belief. The salad was dropped. Whatever the hell kind of dessert Herc and Aleksis were making is gone. Raleigh's garlic bread literally caught on fire. And where the hell are Chuck and Stacker? At least, she told herself, the decorations are nice; the Weis, Tendo, and Sasha did not fuck up the exterior of the house or the tree.

Suddenly, Max launches himself towards the door, barking and howling, and Mako stands up to stop a disaster from happening because god knows everything else that's happened today is a disaster and it will be a miracle if they have any food ready. Just before Max makes contact with the knee of his owner, who happens to be carrying most of the beer, Mako intercepts it and grabs the wrinkly bulldog. 

"Mako, are you okay?" Chuck asks. "You look...."

"Frazzled," Stacker finishes. "You look very frazzled."

Mako sighs and sits down. "Okay. The ham is burnt, the salad was dropped so we had to make another, garlic bread was on fire, dessert was dropped and is now gone, and you both were gone while all of that happened." Her voice waivers a little towards the end.

"Whoa whoa, don't cry." Chuck sits next to her. "This is gonna work out. Even if we end up eating takeout Chinese or some shit, it'll be fun. Right?"

She sniffles and he puts an arm around her. "I guess."

* * *

 

"I guess this takeout isn't that bad," Raleigh comments, forever the optimist. For claiming to be disappointed their meal plans failed exceptionally, he's very chipper as he hands out the Chinese takeout they ordered to make up for their terribly burnt hams. "We could do a lot worse than Chinese and beer."

"And our dessert," Aleksis adds.

"Your dessert did not work! We're not eating it! Especially 'cause you won't even tell us what it is," Tendo sighs.

"Tendo." Alison places a hand on his shoulder. "Give Aleksis and Herc a chance. It might be good."

"They improvised a dessert," Mako explains to Stacker and Chuck.

Stacker sighs. "Herc, as much as I love you--" Mako and Chuck exchange a confused, almost scared, look. "--you don't improvise desserts. Follow a recipe."

"Wait wait wait, are the two of you....?" Newt looks from Stacker to Herc, smirking.

"Newton, you don't--" Hermann begins, but he's cut off.

"Yeah," Herc answers with a nod. "Yeah, we are."

"Yep," Stacker answers before grabbing a beer. "Thought it was obvious."

"How long has this been happening, Dad?" Chuck asks. "What the hell? When were you gonna tell me? Mako, did you know this was happening?"

"No," she answers. "Sensei?"

Raleigh nervously laughs. "So, um, who wants to, uh, do presents? 'cause this sounds like a private conversation for later." Without waiting for an answer, he walks over to the pile of presents next to their weird-ass rockabilly Russian tree decorated by Tendo and Sasha and distributes the presents.

As time drags on and on and more people open their presents, more hugs are given out and the laughter gradually grows louder and louder as the amount of drinks each person has had increases. Eventually, Chuck and Herc end up talking in out, loudly and rather drunkenly. The conversation ends with a teary "Whatever makes you happy, Dad" from Chuck, and Raleigh watches from where he sits next to Mako.

"They're very affectionate drunks," he comments. "Never woulda guessed."

She nods. "I never imagined this either."

"Do you like your gift?" he asks.

She nods. "I love the sweater you knitted me." She kisses his cheek. "Do you like yours?"

"Mm-hm. It's a really nice camera. Now, you know you can't get me such a nice camera and not model for me sometime," he says. "I mean, you're pretty and it's a nice camera and c'mon Mako, please?"

She laughs. "Only for you."

"Really?" His eyes light up and she loves that look on him; she'll do anything for it to stay.

"Yes, really."

While Newt and Hermann bump into each other under the mistletoe and lock lips, which leads to a confession that they've been together since before Pitfall and a chorus of "I knew it!", Mako and Raleigh sit holding hands, obliviously happy together and drunk. And Mako's so happy she agreed to having Christmas here. Even with the burned ham and garlic bread and weird dessert that didn't work out, it's worth it when the Wei triplets and Kaidonovskys are arguing about music again, when Chuck is half asleep and cuddling Max on their couch, when Herc and Stacker are laughing so hard Herc looks like he's going to cry, when Tendo and Alison announce Alison's pregnant.

She can't quite remember the Christmases from her childhood, but she's certain this is the way it's supposed to feel; that this warm, bubbly feeling and constant laughing is exactly how Christmas is supposed to feel. It's supposed to feel like laughing at burning foods and weird desserts, and your weird-ass tree, and Raleigh's hand tightly gripping hers and his stupid adorable puppydog grin that melts her heart. He leans forward and they kiss.

"Merry Christmas, Mako. I love you."

She's so damn glad she volunteered for this.

**Author's Note:**

> liaduval, I hope you enjoyed this fic. I tried to get in Mako/Raleigh, Newt/Hermann, and Herc/Stacker and the elements you wanted, which were preparing the dinner and a gift exchange. The gift exchange scene didn't work out too well, but I hope this is still good. Merry Christmas!


End file.
